Construction company Lend Lease has cemented its CSR credentials in Scotland after handing over £80,000 to local causes CHAS and Ayrshire Hospice.

The building firm’s kind-hearted Scottish staff and supply chain raised the mighty sum through a number of initiatives during the course of 2011, including a golf day and ceilidh.

The impressive total, generated via Lend Lease’s longstanding Guvnor’s Club fundraising vehicle, will be shared equally between the two charities, which were nominated by employees.

Lend Lease staff gathered at the construction site of The Hydro at the SECC this week to present each charity with a cheque for £40,000. The money will be spent on supporting children, young people and their families who use CHAS services and ongoing costs in the provision of care and support of patients and families at Ayrshire Hospice.

Maria McGill, Chief Executive, CHAS said: "We are absolutely delighted to accept this cheque from Lend Lease. At CHAS we pride ourselves at going the extra mile to support our amazing families. This donation will go a long way to ensure that we continue to provide such top quality care that makes such a difference to their lives."

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Aileen Anderson, Chief Executive of The Ayrshire Hospice, said: "On behalf of all our patients, their families, our staff and volunteers I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Lend Lease and everyone who was involved in raising this magnificent sum. It will help us to change the lives of those in our care.

"Our services cost £17,000 every day and we need to fundraise more than £4m each year to keep our services going. In addition, this donation will help us to promote the work that we do, broadening knowledge and understanding of our services, increasing equitable access for all patients that need our help and increasing funding to ensure our sustainability."

The Lend Lease Guvnors’ Club was set up in 1930 as a charitable and social arm of Lend Lease, its main objective being to help different regions of the business raise money for local charities nominated by staff.

Lend Lease’s Scottish Secretary of the Guvnors’ Club Scotland Barry O’Hagan said: "The amount of money raised in 2011 really was staggering and all credit goes to staff across the country as well as many companies from within our supply chain who helped to run events and put their hands in their pockets to support them.

"More importantly it’s days like this which make all the effort worthwhile, being able to hand over such a fantastic total to two truly deserving charities where the money we raised really will make a difference."

Lend Lease’s 2012 programme of Guvnors’ Club fundraising events includes the annual golf day at Craigielaw in May and the evening dinner and ceilidh in November.

Gordon Anderson, Executive General Manager in Scotland for Lend Lease, said: "We are immensely proud of our rich history in Scotland of raising funds for good causes via the Guvnors’ Club.

"Today’s presentation marks the latest chapter in that story and it’s a privilege to be able to hand over such a terrific sum of money to both CHAS and Ayrshire Hospice."

(GK)